We have all been in those classrooms or workspaces where all we hear is complaining. Looking around we see people melting down over the smallest things. It is just a trudge to get to Friday. Let us look at using gratitude to improve emotional control.
How Gratitude Improves Emotional Control
Something doesn’t go their way and the rest of the day is ruined. “This day is terrible!” When asked why their day is terrible I hear many replies. “I didn’t get a snack in my lunch!”, “I forgot my paper at home.”, or “My friend couldn’t sit with me at lunch today.”
We all know that one thing shouldn’t make for a terrible day. Especially when we put it in perspective. There are people in the world that don’t have anything to eat. Forgetting one paper won’t ruin the rest of your life. We have more than one friend. As we logically think about these scenarios we might forget just how often we have a bad day because of a minor incident.
Minor incidents might include running five minutes later for work, having a late meeting, or getting asked to do something extra. Gratitude is a way of shifting our perspective. When we are focused on the negative we are going to have a bad day. Our brain will look for things to support our hypothesis of having a bad day.
When we focus on the good things or things that we can be grateful for our brain is being trained to see the positive. This can stave off a meltdown and help us stay in control of our emotions longer. We don’t need to yell at the person that just irritated us or we don’t need to get angry over a small mistake.
Teaching Gratitude in the Classroom
Practice Everyday
Gratitude is a learned behavior. The more our students and of course us, practice gratitude the easier it becomes. Set up a time each day for students to share what they are thankful for. This is also a great way for students to build relationships with you and with the entire class.
Use gratitude as a writing prompt before class begins. Every day or once a week students can write a paragraph about what they are thankful for that week or that day.
Utilize a Gratitude Week
Thanksgiving is a great time to institute a gratitude week. Set up a thankfulness tree inside your room or out. Give students a leaf to write what they are thankful for. Students will then put the leaf on the tree. It is wonderful to watch them read other students’ leaves and then want to add more of their own.
Practice the art of writing Thank You cards. Have students write a card to someone that they are thankful for. This could be a teacher, school nurse, counselor, friend, or family member.
Go a step further and write thank you cards to people in the community. Write thank you cards to veterans around Veteran’s Day. Send cards to nurses in your local hospital during Nurs’s Week. Consider writing to members of public safety around 9/11 or during EMS Week. They can also write notes to teachers during Teacher Appreciation Week.
Redirect
When you notice a student having a bad day or getting give them an opportunity to think about what they are grateful for. Once they have calmed down ask them to come up with something positive that happened today. You can also ask them to come up with something positive in the specific situation.
Gratitude is an excellent tool to help students focus on the bigger picture and think less about the small irritations. It can reduce their whining and help them keep their emotions under control when something doesn’t go their way. It is also amazing to see them point out things to be grateful for to one another.
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